Tears and cheers co-mingle as Romanians celebrate the overthrow of the regime of Nicolae Ceausescu, Romania's treacherous despotic leader, during the early days of the Romanian Revolution. An emotional Avram Constantin (center) watches as a truck piled with war dead drives past, enroute to Bucharest's Belo Cemetery, December 1989.

Mikhail Gorbachev, General Secretary of the Soviet Communist Party, visits Prague in 1987. His new policies of openness contributed greatly to unleashing winds of change that spread throughout Eastern Europe, leading to the fall of the Iron Curtain in 1989.

Soviet miners before the fall of the Iron Curtain. Mikhail Gorbachev, the General Secretary of the Soviet Union, contributed greatly with his policies of glasnost and perestroika to unleashing winds of change that spread throughout Eastern Europe and led to the fall of the Iron Curtain in 1989.

Two young East German men try to flee to the West by crawling across the Hungarian-Austrian border. Seconds after this photograph was made, Hungarian border guards jumped out of a cornfield with rifles and German Shepherds. One of the two boys ran, and with a few steps, leaped over the border to freedom. His friend stood petrified, and was arrested. The destinies of the two men changed dramatically in a split second. Days later, on Sept. 10, the Hungarian government officially opened the border between Hungary and Austria, allowing thousands of East Germans to cross freely through Austria to West Germany. Later that autumn, on Nov. 9, 1989, the Berlin Wall fell.

The Velvet Revolution in Prague, Czechoslovakia, was one of the most important revolutions in Eastern Europe in 1989. There were nightly mass demonstrations of often half a million people in Wenceslas Square throughout late November. On Nov. 28, the Communist Party of Czechoslovakia announced that it would relinquish power and there would no longer be a single-party state.

A soldier stands atop a Romanian tank in Palace Square during the Romanian Revolution of December 1989. The uprising overthrew the government of Nicolae Ceausescu. After fleeing the capital, Bucharest, Ceausescu and his wife Elena were arrested and executed. The Romanian Revolution was extremely violent and more than a 1,000 people were killed and thousands were injured. As seen here, citizens and rebels cut out the heart of Romanians flags to symbolize the end of a treacherous past under the oppressive Ceausescu dictatorship.

Free at last, two East German refugees, a brother and sister, hug near the Austrian-Hungarian frontier after it was officially opened. During the summer of 1989, thousands of East Germans went to Hungary ostensibly on vacation, and used this as an opportunity to try to flee to freedom in the West across the Hungarian-Austrian border. On Sept. 10, the Hungarian government officially opened its border, allowing thousands of East Germans to go to West Germany.

On Nov. 9, 1989, the East German government announced it would allow East German citizens to freely cross the Berlin Wall to visit West Berlin and West Germany. The Wall, an important symbol and reality of the Cold War, was literally torn down by citizens in the following days and weeks. These events paved the way for German reunification in 1990.

During the late summer of 1989, thousands of East Germans went to Hungary ostensibly on vacation, but used this pretext to attempt to escape across the Hungarian-Austrian border to freedom in the West. During this period, thousands of East Germans took shelter in a refugee camp in Budapest while waiting for an opportunity to go to West Germany. Many slept in their cars for days and weeks while waiting.

In Leipzig, East Germany, Monday night demonstrations began in early September of 1989. These protests helped exert pressure on the government of the German Democratic Republic (GDR), and helped lead to the eventual fall of the Berlin Wall in November of 1989.

An East German woman offers flowers to East German border patrol soldiers on Nov. 10, 1989, as she crosses the Berlin Wall to West Berlin, a day after the Wall officially became open for East Germans to visit West Berlin and West Germany.

The daily realities of social and economic life in former East Germany prior to the fall of the Berlin Wall and, ultimately, the Iron Curtain, in 1989 were among the most difficult of any of the countries of the Eastern Bloc.

East Germans cross freely through the Berlin Wall to West Berlin on Nov. 10, 1989, the day after the East German government announced that it was lifting all restrictions on East Germans visiting West Berlin and West Germany. Many citizens of the German Democratic Republic (GDR) drove the East German car, the Trabant, which has become a symbol of the end of communism in Eastern Europe and the fall of the Berlin Wall.

At the fall of the Berlin Wall, East German border patrol soldiers stand by as sections of the Wall were removed after the East German government lifted restrictions on East Germans visiting the West. November 1989.

A young boy sits on top of the Berlin Wall. The Wall, constructed in 1961, was both a symbol and a concrete reality of the Cold War. The fall of the Berlin Wall on Nov. 9, 1989, was one of the events that most marked the beginning of the end of a bipolar world that had existed since the end of World War II.

A few days after the East German government lifted restrictions on East Germans visiting West Berlin and West Germany, East German border patrol soldiers stamp the passports of hundreds of thousands of East Germans crossing through the Berlin Wall for the first time since 1961. November 1989.

A day after the East German government lifted restrictions on its citizens visiting West Berlin and West Germany, marking the fall of the Berlin Wall on Nov. 9, 1989, thousands of citizens of both East and West Germany gathered at the once-forbidden wall at Potsdamer Platz in Berlin to celebrate.

During the autumn of 1989, before the fall of the Berlin Wall, each Monday night thousands of pro-democracy protesters gathered for demonstrations in Leipzig, East Germany. These protests help exert strong pressure on the East German government to lift restrictions forbidding East Germans from visiting West Berlin and West Germany, which ultimately led to the fall of the Berlin Wall on Nov. 9, 1989.

East Germans celebrate the first free elections in East Germany after the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989. This was a turning point before the final reunification of Germany. Bitterfeld, East Germany, March 1990.

Joyous Czechs in Prague celebrate the end of communism in Czechoslovakia during the Velvet Revolution of November 1989. This was a largely nonviolent uprising, and one of the most important revolutions in Eastern Europe in 1989.

Alexander Dubcek, the pro-democracy leader of the Prague Spring of 1968, returns to Prague for the first time after 20 years of house arrest in Bratislava, to speak to hundreds of thousands of Czechs during the Velvet Revolution, late November 1989.

During the Velvet Revolution which ended single-party communist rule in the former Czechoslovakia, hundreds of thousands of Czechs braved bitter cold each night for weeks to come to Wenceslas Square in Prague to express their desire for a life with greater freedom. November 1989.

At Prague's Magic Lantern Theatre, headquarters of the Civic Forum during the Velvet Revolution in 1989, leaders Vaclav Havel (right), a playwright and dissident, Alexander Dubcek (center), architect of the pro-1968 Prague uprising, and others toast the resignation of the Communist politburo and end of single-party communist rule in the former Czechoslovakia.

Nicolae Ceausescu, one of the most despotic and treacherous dictators in the world since World War II, poses for an exclusive photo session at his summer house in Snagov, Romania, in the summer of 1989. Four months later, Ceausescu and his wife were executed by a firing squad during the Romanian Revolution of December 1989.

The realities of daily life under the Romanian regime of Nicolae Ceausescu were among the harshest and most difficult of any country in the Eastern Bloc prior to the revolutions of 1989. Outside of Bucharest, May 1990.

A hospital morgue in Bucharest, Romania, December 1989. The Romanian Revolution that overthrew the oppressive regime of Nicolae Ceausescu was the most violent of all of the revolutions in Eastern Europe that led to the fall of the Iron Curtain in 1989. More than a 1,000 civilians were killed during this revolution and thousands more were injured.

Only four months after photographing Romanian dictator Nicolae Ceausescu during an exclusive photo session, Peter Turnley photographed Ceausescu on a television screen, lying dead after being executed by a firing squad during the Romanian Revolution. This photograph was taken in Ceausescu's own private office in Palace Square which had been taken over by revolutionary rebels. Dec. 25, 1989.

Fighting in Palace Square in Bucharest, Romania, during the Romanian Revolution, December 1989. More than 1,000 people were killed during this uprising, the most violent of any of the Eastern European revolutions of 1989.

More than 1,000 Romanians were killed during the Romanian Revolution of 1989. At Bucharest's Belo Cemetery, hastily built markers, adorned with scraps of cloth, handkerchiefs, even towels, commemorated the dead. December 1989.

Romanian revolutionaries take over the office of Romanian dictator Nicolae Ceausescu at the very moment that he and his wife were shown being executed by a firing squad on his own television screen in his office. Dec. 25,1989.

Romanians in Bucharest celebrated the overthrow of the regime of Nicolae Ceausescu during the Romanian Revolution, December 1989. This man, beside himself with fury and relief, jabbed twin victory signs at an unseen target and repeatedly shouted, "Ceausescu Dictator."

At a church funeral in Bucharest, grieving family members gather around a loved one's coffin to say goodbye. The dead man was killed in fighting during the Romanian Revolution, which overthrew Nicolae Ceausescu. It was the most violent of all of the revolutions in Eastern Europe in 1989.

Nicolae Ceausescu, the Romanian dictator, was supported by a treacherous secret police force called the Securitate. They were reported to have killed many citizens protesting during the Romanian Revolution of December 1989. Here, a captured member of the Securitate that had been shot during the country's uprising is seen just after he died, handcuffed to his hospital bed in Bucharest.

Romanian revolutionaries during the uprising of December 1989 that overthrew the regime of Nicolae Ceausescu. During the revolution, citizens and rebels cut out the heart of Romanian flags to symbolize the end of a treacherous past under the oppressive Ceausescu dictatorship.

Following the overthrow of Romanian dictator Nicolae Ceausescu in 1989, national presidential elections were held in May 1990. Widespread post-election protests challenged the legitimacy of the votes. Bucharest, Romania, 1990.

A maternity ward in Albania, 1992. After the fall of the Iron Curtain in 1989, journalists began to discover the incredibly harsh living conditions of some places in Eastern Europe that had previously been mostly hidden from the view of Western observers.